Autism and Snow Days!

We have had quite a few snow days since we moved into our home. I would call them typical British snow days. The snow comes down, there might be just enough to play with and by the next day it is already melting. In 2012 we had a good snowfall but it arrived on a Sunday morning. We have never had school cancelled or even trouble to get into work. That was until last week when the Beast From The East decided to strike. This resulted in school being closed for three and a half days!

Our Snow Day Experience

Knowing that we didn’t have to venture out in the snow for school was exciting at first. We were outside walking in the snow at 9am on the first morning. It was so cold that it gave me a headache and we failed at trying to build a snowman. I decided it was the wrong type of snow. When Daddy finally made it home from work and warmed up he took the children out in the snow again. The first snow day was quite fun, the remaining were a different story.

Autism and Snow Days

With the amount of snow we had the ice that the following days brought became quite dangerous. I decided it was best to keep warm and safe and stay in. This was out of Ethan’s routine. He couldn’t understand why he wasn’t going to school. He was also desperate for routine after the half term holiday and having some sick days. It started to cause him great distress. The fact that his iPad also told him it was March and March means spring and flowers didn’t help. All he could see was snow, no flowers. Snow also means winter and not spring.

To handle this unexpected event Ethan started to control the TV. The only channel he would let us watch was Disney Junior which is OK for a few hours but I have already seen every episode of every show that is currently on air five or six times. To make things really interesting Ethan thought it was funny to start watching this channel in rewind. At this point I was past feeling like I was going slightly insane.

Why Didn’t We Take Back Control Of The TV?

I can hear you asking this, questioning my parental control. It would be the first question I used to ask. But doing this would have caused Ethan great distress and result in a meltdown. Us putting up with Disney Junior in rewind is a lot better to bear than a full-blown meltdown.

The iPad Usage

Ethan always has his iPad on you tube. He likes watching channel idents, kinder egg openings that sort of thing. His video of choice over the snow days was the BBC News headline idents. We all know what that sounds like. So my days stuck in the house consisted of Disney Junior on rewind with the continuous noise of the BBC News Headlines. If I was really lucky I got to hear some of the headlines but not that often and they wouldn’t have been current.

A Naughty Streak

All of this uncertainty has brought about a bit of a naughty streak in our little boy. He has taken to throwing toys and he won’t stop. It is happening both at home and in school and we are now desperately trying to put something in place that will distract him.

Snow Days Have Taken Their Toll

The snow days have really taken their toll on our family and they have really worn me out. I have had to have a few visits to the doctors as I’m so run down. I think every family has found the last week hard as we were able to escape to soft play at one point and so did half of the town. Everyone was desperate for their children to burn off some of the pent-up energy. I was so glad for the return to school this week and now the countdown to the Easter Holiday begins!

You sound as though you handled it all so well – the snow days are great at first, until cabin fever sets in! I think everyone was a little relieved when the schools opened again, I know I was ready for nursery to open by day 4! Hopefully thats the snow over for the year! xx

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